Erich von Stroheim: The Merry Widow (USA 1925)
E.A Duppon: Varieté (D 1925) - UA
Monday, 14 August 2023, 20.00
ELBPHILHARMONIE - Grosser Saal, Hamburg
Based on Lehár's operetta, Stroheim created an excellently cast film masterpiece filled with comedy, drama, and intricate details. Two young crown princes with a well-known weakness for beautiful women set their sights on the dancer Sally. However, she doesn't succumb to Prince Danilo's advances so easily. Initially inheriting from a wealthy baron, she carves out a pleasant life as "The Merry Widow" in Paris, with marriage taking a back seat.
For the new film score, to be performed by the Ensemble Resonanz, Berlin's stage composer Tobias Schwencke (Gorki Theater, Deutsches Theater) was enlisted. In his musical interpretation, he intends to incorporate motifs from the titular operetta as well as techniques from historical cue-sheet music, transforming them into a contemporary film score. This is precisely the aim: using a modern approach to historical musical materials to consciously bring out the film's satirical and socially critical undertones.
